


We Lost. That's all there is to say on the matter

by 00HD



Category: Homestuck
Genre: A hella lot of blood, Blood guys, Doomed Timelines, Escape, Gen, I swear, It gets happier, It's the saddest thing, Revolution, This is an AU, Time Travel, a lot of people are already dead, it really does, ok the ending will crush your very soul, permanent death, run while you can, seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-09
Updated: 2014-08-11
Packaged: 2018-02-08 04:31:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1926696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/00HD/pseuds/00HD
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In this doomed timeline, everything goes directly to hell.<br/>Dirk, Jane, Roxy, and Jake never entered the game, and when the big battle against The Condesce and Lord English came, they lost.<br/>Everyone lost.<br/>John, Dave, Rose, and Jade are 'enlisted' by the Condesce and the trolls...<br/>Well... John tries not to think about what happened to them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was what the Helmsman would have considered a normal night. It was silent, the Control Room was filled with only the spund of his own breathing. He powered the Condescension’s ship and it was, all in all, normal.  
Until doors opened and three trolls stepped in. It was the Condesc and two of her guard who were dragging another troll with them.  
Wait… Scratch that, that wasn’t a troll at all. It was certainly troll shaped, but its skin was light brown and it didn’t have any horns.  
“It appears,” said the Condesce tilting her head, that menacing smile never leaving her face “that you have a hivemate, Helmsman.”  
The Helmsman looked down at the not-troll. Whatever it was, it looked young. Couldn’t be older than eight sweeps. It wore bright blue clothing, which had been ripped and torn. The only thing it shared with troll-kind was its black hair and troll-shape and that was it. The creature itself was unconscious, and bleeding from the mouth.  
The guards dragged the creature behind him, and the Helmsman heard them call down more of the Biovines. The Helmsman didn’t actually know what these pink things that held him in place were, and he doubted that The Condesce would tell him.  
They began hooking up the creature to the Biovines, and the Helmsman noticed they were doing it rather hurriedly. They were placing the creature back-to-back with the Helmsman, he could feel the creature up against him even.  
It was weird, he hadn’t had contact with anything in a very long time and suddenly he was getting very close to this alien.  
“Well, Helmsman,” said The Condesce, walking up to him “aren’t you curious? What is this little creature doing in your Control Room?” she didn’t wait for him to answer, because she knew he wouldn’t “you see, this race of creatures is extremely stupid. They believed that they could beat me in a game.”  
The Helmsman glanced back at the creature. It was still being hooked up to the Biovines. It looked so weak, so vulnerable. Thinking you could beat Her Imperial Condescension in anything was crazy, but a game? She loved games, and when she played them she made sure she won.  
“It’s waking,” The Helmsman heard one of the guards say warily  
“Is it hooked in?” asked The Condesce lazily, not even glancing back at them.  
“Yes, your Imperial Condesce.”  
“Good, then you can leave,” commanded the Condesce. The Helmsman watched as the guards disappeared out the Control Room door, and now it him, the Condesce, and this unknown creature.  
The creature groaned. The Helmsman could feel it shift in the Biovines it was now trapped in.  
“Oh hello!” said The Condesce, walking around to face the creature “we were just talking about you!”  
“*Wh-Where am I?*”  
The Helmsman blinked. He had no idea what the creature just said. It defiantly wasn’t in Beforanian.  
“*Welcome to your new hive, wriggler!*” said the Condesce in the same language “*because I find your language disgusting, I’m going to teach you Beforanian.*” The Condesce brought two fingers up to the creature’s forehead. It screeched and thrashed in the Biovines.   
Being force-fed information through your thinkpan hurts. The Helmsman knew that all too well. But he had no idea what was going on, he didn’t speak that weird language that the Condesce and the creature had been speaking in.  
When the creature’s screaming stopped, the Condesce smiled and began talking in Beforanian again “see? Was that so hard?”  
The creature was breathing heavily. He muttered an insult that the Helmsman couldn’t hear, but it made the Condesce laugh.  
“Batterwitch, huh? Oh yeah because I’ve /never/ heard that before!” she said laughing. She grabbed his hair and pulled his face up to meet hers, her good temper had evaporated “You may be a god, but you are under my power now. And seeing as you can’t die, I think you’ll be here for a while.”  
The creature was silent for a minute before speaking “where- Where are my friends?” it asked weakly.  
The Condesce laughed, dropping his head “It’s not them you should be worried about!” she cackled “but believe me when I tell you, I don’t need all of them. I could kill the Knight, I can travel through time with ease. So I could kill him, and quite gruesomely at that. Then do it again and again and again,” she added with malice dripping from her voice “But the Witch and the Seer, I could use them.   
“However that doesn’t mean I won’t hurt them,” threatened the Condesce “But you are useful. And if you don’t do as I instruct, not only will you be tortured, your little god-buddies will be as well.”  
The creature’s breathing was the only noise that could be heard in the Control Room. The Helmsman could feel it shaking against him.  
“Fine,” It said forcefully  
The Condesce raised an eyebrow “I don’t think that’s how you address your new master,” she said lightly.  
“Fine, Batterwitch,” it spat.  
The Helmsman would’ve face-palmed if his hands had been free. But instead of being mercilessly beat, the Condesce just laughed at him.  
“You’ve got guts kid,” she said “but if you keep that up they’ll be splattered all over the floor.” With that, the Condesce turned, and walked out of the Control Room, leaving the alien and the Helmsman alone.  
“You’re an idiot,” said the Helmsman, shaking his head.  
The creature flinched “Oh my god I thought you were a wall!” it cried.  
“Nope, not a wall. Jutht a troll thtuck in the thame pothitian ath you,” said the Helmsman.  
“Wait a minute… Sollux? Is that you?” the creature asked. The Helmsman could feel it try to turn around.  
“Thollux? Who the hell ith that?” asked the Helmsman “I’m the Helmthman.”  
“Oh… You sound like one of my friends,” said the creature sadly “my name’s John by the way.”  
“Tho you’re a god, huh?” asked the Helmsman “How’s the Condesce enlist you?”  
The creature was silent for only a second “we played a game, and we lost. Everyone lost. We tried to take a short cut and it failed. The Main Boss beat us and killed twelve of our friends, permanently. They’ll never come back, I thought you were one of them, you sound like him,” John said defeatedly  
“Why did you lothe?” asked the Helmsman. He was quite curious about this alien, he was very different from the Helmsman, in more ways than one.  
“Because,” said John “the most important people never entered the game. We were forced to fight without them, and as you can see! We lost. And now, we’re here.”  
“The troll you thpoke of,” said the Helmsman “wath he like me? A Thiioniic?”  
“Yeah,” said John, smiling a little “and a pretty good one at that.”  
“He wath probably enlithted then. You’ll probably thee him again,” said the Helmsman. He didn’t know why he was trying to cheer this alien up, but it was bettered than making it his enemy.  
The Helmsman felt John shudder “N-no, he wasn’t enlisted.”  
“How do you know? He could’ve--”  
“I watched the Batterwitch gouge his eyes out and pull his organs out of his stomach,” said John, shuddering a little “he wasn’t enlisted.”


	2. Chapter 2

John lay on the battlefield, his arm was missing, and his leg was broken. Blood was dripping down his face from where he had been hit over the head, and the place were his arm had once been burned and stung and ached like no pain John had ever felt before. 

Memories of the battle surged through his mind. John felt sick. Oh god… the trolls… They were all gone! John felt tears prick his eyes, but he forced them back. He needed to focus, he needed to find everyone before he let his emotions get in the way.

He tried to pick himself up with the one arm he still had, using his windy powers to help support him, but the wind stung over his wounds and he lost concentration, falling back onto the checkerboard ground. He grunted as he hit the ground.  
“Find the surviving gods!” he heard a voice yell, “if they are dead, they won’t come back. They can only die in combat! Kill the injured ones, they’ll come back fully healed.”

Oh no. 

John looked around, he could hear the Condescension’s drones and trolls picking their way over the dead bodies and traversing their way around the hills. They didn’t know this place as well as John did. After all, this is where he went every night, he knew it like the back of his hand. Thankfully he hadn’t been spotted yet because he was hidden behind a partially destroyed hill, and the rubble hid him from sight (thank god none of it had landed on him)

Lying next to him was Rose, a huge gash was running up her face and both of her legs looked broken. She looked unconscious, but John couldn’t tell.  
John didn’t know where Dave and Jade were, and he was beginning to panic. Oh god… what of they found him? What were they going to do? They knew that they couldn’t die, what so what were they planning to do to them?

Oh god oh god oh god oh god…

John found he couldn’t breath. He tried desperately to calm himself down, but the air wouldn’t flow down his lungs. It was like when he was little when he hurt himself and for some reason he couldn’t breath and that hurt more than the actual wound. 

But this was worse, this was much worse. Every time he tried to take a breath and nothing went down he would panic even more.  
He tried to get up again, ignoring how much his body protested it. He propped himself up so he was sitting, and wrapped his one arm around Rose. He focused, using his windy powers again, doing his best to ignore how much the wind over his stub-of-an-arm hurt. He got them floating only a foot off the ground, but that was better than walking (which neither of them could do).

“R-Rose?” he whispered shakily, his voice was extremely high-pitched, “Rose? Ar-are you alive?”  
Rose’s eye lids fluttered.  
“That’s good enough,” whispered John, bringing her in closer.

“John?” she whispered “oh god, are we dead yet?” she asked, her voice was shaking as well.  
John gulped “Not yet,” he said  
Rose let out a quiet little sob. John held her closer, but persisted forward, looking for any sign of Dave and Jade.

“I found one!” John heard someone yell. He froze in terror, who’d they find?  
“It’s the Knight of Time!”  
“Is it dead?”  
“No, still breathing a little bit.”  
“Well you heard the orders, kill it and it’ll come back fully healed.”  
“Then it’ll get away!”  
“They don't come back right away, so stop worrying and kill it already! We still need to find the Witch, the Seer, and the Heir!”

John and Rose looked at each other, sharing the same thought:  
We can’t just let them take Dave.

“John,” whispered Rose in a hoarse voice “we need… we need to save Dave.”  
“I know,” said John “let’s find Jade, she can apperify him and then we can fly the fuck away from here. I know a place were we can hide till they leave.”  
Rose gave John a very small nod, then flinched.

“What is it?” asked John  
“M-My neck,” she stammered, her eyes wide.

“What?” asked John worriedly.  
“I-I think something’s broken… I can’t move it without it hurting,” she said squeezing her eyes shut.  
“Here,” John used his windy powers to help hold her head up for her. She sighed, tears pricking her eyes  
“Sorry I’m so useless right now,” she apologized, smiling bitterly  
“Shh,” said John “no more talking.”

John looked up, making sure no one was there, than ventured forward. He looked out from the rubble to where the sound of the voice who had announced that they had Dave had come from. Most of the trolls and drones were moving rubble and overturning bodies. John saw one of the trolls holding Dave who had a sword sticking out of his chest. He was beaten and bruised and he was missing his shades.  
There was foamy blood dripping from his mouth, and one of his eyes was missing.  
John felt bile rise in his throat, but he swallowed it.

There were way too many of them. He needed to find Jade now, or they would have no chance of escape. He moved back into hiding. There was too much open ground, and not enough hiding places.

“Would you guys spread out?! We’re nevah gonna find ‘em if you keep lookin’ ‘round here!” screeched a female voice. John knew that voice… that was the Condesce.

Fuck.

If she was looking she could do a thinkpan sweep and--

John felt a sharp pain stab his brain. He just barely kept from screaming.  
“John?” groaned Rose, who was feeling the exact same pain he was “wh-what’s happening?”  
John’s eyes were shut tight, and he groaned. It felt like some one was sticking needles into his brain. He lost concentration and both he and rose fell to the ground.

Both of them shrieked.  
They had fallen on their broken limbs.

“What they fuck?!”  
“What was that?”

The sound of running feet drew near. John couldn’t focus because of the pain. He couldn’t get them away.  
“Well, well, well, what’s this? Two little gods who thought they could get away, eh?” John looked up. There was the Condesce herself, standing above him. She swung her pitchfork up, and brought it down through John’s chest. 

The last thing John saw was her stupid smiling face, which was also the first thing he was when he woke, alive once again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conversations.  
> This AU is mostly conversations.  
> But don't worry, there are interesting things to come.

At first, John and the Helmsman were quiet around each other. They weren’t sure what to think of their new hivemate, but after a while they John was bored out of his mind, and struck up a conversation.

“So…” started John “why are you in here?”  
“Becauthe of my powerth,” he said dully, “I power thith entire ship.”  
“Oh. I’m not really sure what I’m here for,” said John “it’s probably just because I can’t die.”

“You can’t die?” asked the Helmsman incredulously  
“Yeah,” said John.  
“How do you even know that?” asked the Helmsman  
“I’ve died a few times,” said John, who would’ve shrugged if he could’ve “by the way, do we ever get to let our arms down?” asked John looking up at the pink vine-things that trapped his hands “Because I’m losing all the feeling in my fingers.”

“Only onthe every four thweeps,” said the Helmsman “and that’th only becauthe that’th when they do the phythical evaluation.”  
“But I’ll be…” John paused; doing the math “Twenty-six is four sweeps!” said John, remembering Karkat telling him how much time sweeps were.

“What?” asked the Helmsman “There ith no way that you are twenty-two thweeps old. You don’t look older than eight!”  
“Oh, sorry,” said John “I was meant that in human years. A year is equal to half a sweep. I’m sixteen years old, eight sweeps.”

“Hmm…” said the Helmsman “Tho your thpecies doeth have a name.”  
“Was that the only thing you paid attention to? Yeah it has a name,” said John “or at least it did.”  
“‘Did’? What do you mean by ‘did’?” asked the Helmsman  
“My planet, and everyone on it (except for me and my friends) are dead. There is no ‘human race’ anymore,” said John “and it was all because of that stupid game, too.”

The Helmsman was quiet for a moment, drinking in the information he had been given “thith game,” he said after a while “what ith it?” the Helmsman felt like he could’ve worded that better, but John seemed to get what he was saying.  
He sighed, “I really have no idea,” he said “I dunno why it was made or how. I know that the point of it is to create a new universe, but I don’t get why.”  
“Why did you want to play it if thith wath the outcome?” asked the Helmsman  
“Because we didn’t know,” said John “and, this is probably a doomed timeline anyway, so out there there’s a version of me who isn’t in this situation, and who’s probably winning the game.”

“Thith game thounds incredibly thtupid, and kind of lame,” said the Helmsman  
“Yeah. You mind if I change the topic? I don’t really want to talk about this,” said John, shifting in the… In the...

“What are these things anyway?” asked John, doing exactly what he said he would  
“I dunno,” said the Helmsman “I call them Biovineth. They link uth both up to the ship. Any power you uthe will be transferred and uthed ath energy for the ship. At least, that’th what’th true in my cathe. I don’t know about you. What are your powerth anyway?”  
“I control the wind,” said John

“They’ll probably usthe that during battleth on planetth,” said the Helmsman concluded “I heard the Condethe talking about your friendth, do they have powerth ath well?”  
“Yeah,” said John “Dave controls time, Jade can control space, and Rose deals with luck. I’m not entirely sure what all they can do, I just know the basics.”  
The Helmsman didn’t want to think about what the Condesce might do to these friends of John’s. They had powers that she both needed and wanted when it came to battle. They would be worked to the bone, used until there was nothing left.

He swallowed and kept him mouth shut, while John rambled on about his friends. He also began talking about everything that happened when he played the game, which the Helmsman found to be very interesting.   
He was glad he wasn’t alone anymore. He had gotten used to it by now, he’d lived for so many sweeps now being alone was just normal. But having someone who was talking to him and not at him (like the Condesce did) was nice.

He and John quickly became friends. They both shared their stories, each finding something to sympathize with in the other’s tale. Four days of this passed, John began teaching the Helmsman English for something to do because there wasn’t much else. The Helmsman taught him some mind games and tricks to keep out of boredom.

“Is your name really just ‘The Helmsman’?” asked John on the fifth day of being trapped in this War Ship.  
“It uthed to be the Thiioniic,” he said, “You can call me that if you want.”

“I’ll call you Psy,” said John. The Helmsman (or should we call him ‘Psy’?) could hear the smile splayed on his face.  
“So do we ever get fed,” asked John. It had been five days and no one had come in with food. John was surprised because he wasn’t hungry, and that both mystified and kind of creeped him out.

“We’re being fed right now,” said Psy “the Biovineth keep a thteady flow of nutrienthe to keep uth going.”  
“Oh,” said John “ guess that makes sense. Don’t you ever miss food though?”  
“Yeth, of courth I mith food!” said Psy “how could I not?”  
“Hehe, You’ve got a point,” said John “But what about water? How do we get that?”  
“Biovineth,” said Psy  
“So everything we get is provided by these things?” asked John

“Yep.”  
“So what would happen if they stopped working?! Would anyone even know?” asked John worriedly.  
“The only way they’d thtop working would be becauthe I thtopped them. I’m the engine, remember?” asked Psy  
“But what about when you sleep? What runs this hunk of metal then?” asked John “is there like, an energy reserve or something?”  
“No, I just don’t thleep,” said Psy

“What?”

“And let me tell you, the firtht time you fell athleep I thought you’d died or thome shit, but then you thtarted thnoring,” said Psy chuckling a little.  
“How do you not sleep?” asked John, trying to look back at his friend.  
Psy the Helmsman looked up at the Biovines that held him in place “These don’t let me.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a short chapter.   
> The Condesce is pissed, John pays the price, and a promise is made.

It was day ten.  
Things did not go well this day.  
John had a nightmare and woke up screaming and thrashing. He had forgotten where he was again and flipped out, trying to get away.   
And though Psy tried desperately to calm him down, he could feel the wriggler shaking and hear him trying to choke down his sobs. Once John had managed to calm down and remember that he had been captured by the Condesce, he was silent and Psy knew better than to ask him what he had dreamt about.  
John had nightmares almost every time he fell asleep, but Psy could tell that so far this one had been the worst. He had never woken up like that, violently thrashing around and screeching like a wounded animal.  
Things got worse as the day progressed.  
It was quiet when she came. The door to the Control Room flew open, and there stood the Condesce.  
She looked absolutely furious, and honestly Psy was terrified. John couldn’t see her and Psy was glad, John didn’t need to see this.  
She sidestepped Psy and walked over to John.  
Oh no.  
“You little worm,” she hissed. She grabbed his face, bringing it up to hers “because-a-you two of my heir are dead!” she growled.  
John was beyond scared and was hovering somewhere between horror and hysteria.  
“I-I never killed anyone,” he said, his voice was abnormally high and shaking, and he spoke no louder than a whisper.  
The Condesce laughed harshly, he nails digging deeper into John’s skin “Did you think that your little short-cut in the game wouldn’t hold any consequences? Because of what you did, both my Heirs are dead, and it’s all. You’re. Fault.” Her nails dug so deep into his face that blood began creeping out from between her fingers and his skin.  
John swallowed the pain as best he could, only letting out a little whimper. The Condesce raised her pitchfork, resting the points over John’s heart  
“I hope this hurts,” she spat.  
The Psiioniic, who had been listening, had no idea what The Condesce was about to do.  
But he heard it. There was a sickening crushing noise, and John screamed. The Condesce twisted the pitchfork, and John screamed again.   
Psy could feel blood spatter on his back. He shivered and shut his eyes, trying to block out John’s screams. After a while John fell silent, and the Condesce sauntered around Psy and out of the Control Room. Once she was gone, Psy tried to speak.  
“J-John?” he stuttered.  
The human was silent.  
“John? Did- did she kill you? Oh shit… I don’t remember how your god thing workth… Please don’t be dead… or at least permanently dead,” Psy prattled on, to an unresponsive god.  
“John?” he said finally, his hope that John might wake was beginning to fade. Suddenly there was a huge flash of light, and colours of every variety were thrown across the walls, dancing around the Control Room and creating a masterpiece of light and colour.  
As suddenly as the show started, it stopped. The colour and light vanished like smoke in the wind.  
“Uuugh.”  
“John?” asked Psy, trying to twist around to see his friend.  
“I hate that,” groaned John “I can always feel my bones pop back into place.”  
“Shoosh. It’th alright, you’re alive and it’th over,” said Psy  
“Wait… Did you just… ‘Shoosh’ me?” asked John “isn’t that something Moirails do?”  
Psy blushed a little “Yeah…”  
“So… Does that make us Moirails?” asked John.  
“I… I gueth so,” said Psy, who smiled to himself.  
John was silent for a good minute and a half before speaking in a tone that was so serious the Psiioniic didn’t think it had actually come from John at first.  
“I promise, I’m going to get us out of here.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Favourite part.  
> The Rebellion begins again.

John slept in.  
This was a bad sign. Psy knew full well that when John slept in he was always grumpy when he woke up and became a pain to deal with. Psy tried to somehow wake him up by nudging him with his back.  
To make a long story short it was unsuccessful. Psy sighed, leaning forward and staring at the floor. He began to practice his English, because he had nothing better to do. John jerked behind him.  
“John?” asked Psy, John didn’t usually wake up like that.  
A shiver ran through John, and he jerked again “Oh my god!” he cried suddenly “My head feels like it’s about to explode!” cried John with a shaking voice  
“Uthe your powerth! UTHE THEM!” cried the Psiioniic. He knew that pain, he also knew that if you weren’t almost immediately responsive it would go on for days.  
John began to breathe normally “What was that? I- ACK!”  
“Keep uthing them. You’ll know when to stop,” said Psy quickly  
John resumed using his powers. It was odd, there wasn’t anything for him to specifically focus on, he just had to shoot wind out of his fingertips.  
“It there a battle going on or something?” asked John, making sure he kept his powers going  
“Probably, I--” Psy stopped, he was also getting a feeling in his head, but it wasn’t pain. He was receiving orders.  
“Psy?” asked John “Uh… You awake in there?”  
“Shoosh,” hissed Psy “working…”  
“What?” asked John, trying to twist around to see his Moirail “What do you mean?”   
Psy was busy working the ship, his main function. He was firing cannons and routing John’s windy power so it went in the right directions. He had no time for conversation.  
“Psy, what do you- Ah! Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah okay… Back to the windy thing,” said John, wincing at the increasing pain in his head as he slacked off.  
The two of them fell silent, working to power the war ship, both oblivious to the battle raging outside. Occasionally the ship would jolt and rock, but it was mostly still.  
John was scheming. He bit his bottom lip... Would that even work? He wondered. This might be the only change he had…  
But what if they were in space? There’d be nowhere to go!   
Well… It was certainly better than this hellhole.  
John was going to go for it. He stopped giving power to the ship, letting the pain surge back into his head. He focused on himself (and hoped to whoever was listening that this power wouldn’t be diverted to the ship) and where he wanted to appear. He did this once before when he was fighting Jack, but back then his life had been in serious danger.  
Oh hell, it was now. The pain in his head felt like it was going to kill him.  
“John, what in the hell are you doing?!” cried Psy, who knew that John had stopped giving power to the ship.  
John squeezed his eyes closed. Come on… Come on! He felt his stomach jump, and suddenly his arms fell at his sides.  
John opened his eyes, and found himself floating (because he found his legs wouldn’t work properly because they had been dead-asleep for god knows how long) in front of a troll that looked almost exactly like Sollux. He had the same horns and facial features. At least John thought so, his eyes were covered by pink goggles making it hard to make out what his eyes looked like. His hair was longer than Sollux’s as well, it fell to the nape of his neck and was shaggy and matted from lack of brushing.  
“John? How did you--”  
John ignored what Psy was saying and began using his windy powers to tearing at the Biovines that bound Psy to this ship (his arms were also asleep, so they were out of commission)  
“What the fuck are you doing?!” cried Psy, half hysterically  
“Fulfilling a promise!” said John, Psy fell out of the vines and onto the floor. John used the wind to pick him up and make it so he float next to him.  
The ship tipped violently down, slamming John and Psy against the wall.  
The Ship was falling out of the air and into god knows what. At least that meant they were in a place with gravity and hopefully a ground. Alarms and lights began flashing, sounding that the ship’s engine was failing.  
“GET THE GOGGLETH OFF MY FATHE!” yelled Psy over the numerous alarms. John, who still couldn’t use his arms, used the wind to work the goggles off of his Moirail’s face, showing off his blue and red eyes. He shifted so he was facing the wall John used to face, and blasted a hole through the ship. Debris flew everywhere, and John was amazed that neither of them was hit by it.  
“GO, DAMNNIT!” Psy yelled. John shot the two of them out the hole that Psy had so graciously made. They were in the middle of an ocean.  
What?  
Oh it didn’t matter, John shot forward, so glad to be out of that stupid Control Room. The bright sun temporarily blinded him, but he didn’t care, he just kept flying. Letting the ocean air hit him.  
He looked back at the ship. The blast from Psy’s eyes had left the back of the ship on fire, and it burned as it fell towards the water.  
“WOOO!” yelled John “TAKE THAT YOU STUPID BATTERWITCH!”  
Psy glanced back as well, a grin stretched across his face, but suddenly disappeared “get down near the water!” he hissed  
“What?”  
“Now!” he almost yelled it. John took himself and Psy down near the water. The waves lapped at their feet as they watched the ship go down.  
“What are we doing?” asked John  
“Shoosh!” said Psy. Suddenly a being surrounded by red and blue energy burst from the burning ship, black hair trailing behind it.  
“Get lower,” whispered Psy, keeping his voice steady.  
John lowered the two of them into the freezing ocean water, just far enough that it reached their chests. The Condesce, it seemed could care less that her crew was drowning, or that her ship was gone. She was looking for her engine and her god.  
John shivered “is she going to do a thinkpan sweep?” he whispered, the ocean water was beginning to get to him, and the feeling was coming back in his arms and legs. So he was cold and in pain.  
“She could, but we’re too far away,” said Psy absently.  
The Condesce floated in the air for a minute, as if she were waiting for something. Then she flew off.  
“Where is she going?” asked John  
“Hell if I know. Now get uth out of thith water before we freethe to death,” said Psy  
“Okay, Bossy,” said John  
Psy rolled his eyes. It was actually a good thing he did, because if he hadn’t he wouldn’t have noticed a speck on the edge of his vision.  
“What’th that?” he asked, jerking his head in the direction of the speck. John squinted at it.  
“I…I think that’s a building!” he said  
“In the middle of the othean?” asked Psy skeptically  
“So? How is that any weirder than your Rainbow Drinkers who live in the desert?” asked John. He flew above the waves, his Moirail in tow and he soared in the direction of (what they hoped at least was) the building.


	6. Chapter 6

It turned out that the building was much farther away than either the Psiioniic or John had thought. It felt like they had been flying for hours. The feeling had come painfully back to their limbs, much to their discomfort. But what was even worse, was the fact that since their feeling had returned, they could now feel the cold at full blast. Both of them were shivering.  
Psy’s eyes felt heavy. He wasn’t sure what was happening.  
“John, I think I’m dying,” he said seriously.  
“What? Are you joking?” asked John looking at his Moirail.  
“No,” said Psy “My eyeth feel heavy and my vithion keepth going in and out of focuth.”  
“You’re body’s trying to fall asleep,” said John, who was also feeling the effects of sleep trying to over take him. He yawned, and the two of them dipped down near the waves.  
“John!” cried Psy. John snapped back to attention and brought them back up.  
“Sorry,” he mumbled  
“You want me to keep uth up?” asked Psy, looking at his friend sympathetically  
“Can you?” asked John, struggling to keep his eyes open.  
“Yeah,” he said softly. Psy’s eyes began glowing, and John stopped doing the Windy thing. They were still flying, and John smiled sleepily. John’s head fell on Psy’s shoulder and he fell asleep. Psy moved John around so he carried him on his back, piggyback style.  
This was going to be a long flight.

{---}{---}{---}

Dirk had been working on his robots when he saw the red War Ship fall out of the sky. Smoke billowed out of the back and he could see fire crackling here and there all over it. He watched the ship gone with a mix of awe and confusion. Suddenly the ship tilted violently downward and something shot out of the back. It looked like two people, but they were flying.  
Holy shit there were two flying people. One of them was much smaller than the other, and he seemed to be trying to hold the taller one up. Dirk could just make out that whoever it was had black hair and was certainly wearing a lot of blue, and the other was wearing quite a bit of yellow and what looked like grey. He also had black hair.  
Suddenly they dove towards the water, and hovered there. They were facing the ship, were they waiting for something?  
Dirk saw them lower into the water a little more, and wait.  
Then something shot out of the ship again, but there was no mistaking who and what it was. It was the Condesce. There was no mistaking her black mane and the red and blue flashing aura that surrounded her. She floated in the air, and it seemed like she was looking for something…  
Or someone. Dirk glanced down at the two people floating in the water. Who were these people? He wondered, and what connection did they hold with the Condesce?  
After a while, the Condesce flew away to god knows where. The two rose from the water and began flying in Dirk’s general direction.  
“What the fuck?” was he only thing that ran through his mind.  
Wait… Did they see his building? If they did they were most likely going to come here. He had no idea if these people had good or bad intentions. Dirk scurried around, looking for his strongest katana and his hover-board.

{---}{---}{---}

The Psiioniic was getting tired. He didn’t want to wake his Moirail and ask him to resume the flight, but at the same time he knew if he didn’t and he fell asleep on the job they’d both plummet into the ocean.  
“John,” he said shrugging his shoulders “John, hey. Wake up.”  
John groaned and buried his face in Psy’s shoulder. He rolled his tired eyes.  
“C’mon, if I keep thith up we’ll both fall into the freething ocean water,” he coaxed “Bethideth, we’re almost there.”  
John looked up, rubbing his eyes and blinking in the bright sunlight “We are?” he asked quietly.  
And they were, in fact they only had half a mile to go. The building was much closer now and both Psy and John were releaved  
“Alright,” said John clamoring off of his Moirail’s back, “I got this. You can stop now,” said John. Psy stopped using his powers.  
John shot them both forward as fast as we could, waking both himself and Psy up.  
“Jethus John,” he cried “How fast are we going?!”  
John shrugged, grinning, “I just wanna get there!”

{---}{---}{---}

The next time Dirk looked out his window, he saw that the two figures were coming at an extremely fast pace. They were a little more than a half a mile away, and that meant that Dirk had to scramble to find his crap and get ready for a confrontation.  
As he gathered his things, he kept glancing out the window. The two figures were almost here. Only a few more minutes and they’d be here. Dirk jumped on his hover-board, katana in his hand, and flew out to meet these two people.  
He saw that one of them was indeed a kid, he looked younger than Dirk, maybe by a few months or a year. His black hair was a complete mess, and it looked like it hadn’t been cut in a while, it hung to his shoulders. He wore strange blue pajama-looking clothes, with a long dark blue hood hanging behind him. He also had thick-rimmed, black, rectangular glasses that had multiple cracks in them. He was one of the skinniest kids Dirk had ever seen, and he looked like he hadn’t been in the sun for a while.  
It was his friend that startled him.   
It was a troll.  
This kid was traveling with a troll, the most dangerous thing on this planet and this kid had his arm looped around him.   
The troll also had black hair but his was longer than the kid’s, it fell to his shoulder blades and it was much messier. He had the signature grey skin that all trolls have, and two sets of small pointy candy coloured horns on either side of his head. His eyes were blue and red, no pupils, no irises, just red and blue. It was kind of creepy. He had on a short sleeved yellow jump suit with the Gemini symbol on it, black boots that reached his knees, and black fingerless gloves with yellow cuffs.  
Okay, at least this troll had a good sense of glove fashion, Dirk would give him that.  
“Okay,” he said raising his katana “who the fuck are you, and why do you have a troll with you?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, I made my own fan art for this.  
> http://thetimevortex.deviantart.com/art/My-own-fanart-468805304  
> It's shitty so shut up. I'll make more at some point.  
> (actually there is more already but it has spoilers, so I won't give it a link till it happens)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dirk Strider.  
> He's here now.  
> By the way, anything with * instead of " means that the words are in Beforanian.

The kid just stared at him, wide-eyed. It was kind of creeping Dirk out.  
*Dirk?* he said. Dirk recognized his name, but he could tell this kid was talking in a different language *Oh wait… no, you don’t know me yet… Shit…. Fuck… Oh wait, I’m not talking in English!* The kid took on a strained face, then began speaking in English suddenly “Fuck, sorry! Haven’t used English in a while,” he said.  
Dirk didn’t lower his katana “how do you know my name?” he asked  
The kid opened his name, then shut it “it’s a long fucking story.” He said “but look, I’m not here to hurt you or attack you or whatever, but down your damn anime sword.”  
The Troll said something in that strange language the kid had been talking in, and the kid elbowed him in the side.  
“You never answered my question,” said Dirk “why are you with a troll?”  
“Oh would you stop being racist?!” cried the kid “Jeez, just ‘cause he’s got grey skin doesn’t make him a bad guy! He’s my friend! I mean, why would I be helping him if he was a bad guy?!”  
Dirk noted that this kid tended to ramble when he was scared/nervous. He lowered his katana and jerked his head at the ship wreck  
“Was that you?” he asked  
The kid nodded “Basically, yeah.”  
“The you’re cool by me,” said Dirk  
“Can we come in? It’s fucking cold out here,” said the kid.  
“Sure,” said Dirk, deciding he’s keep an eye on the troll “what’s your name?” asked Dirk flying in the window and land gracefully.  
“John,” he said following Dirk through window. He set the troll on the floor, he started talking in that language again.  
*Can you walk? Or move your legs at all?* asked John  
The Troll looked like he was trying to move his legs *No, I don’t think tho. The human ith thtaring at me, tell him to fuck off.*  
John rolled his eyes *how about your arms, can you move those?*  
*Nope.*  
John sighed. He turned to Dirk, switching back to English “thanks for this by the way,” he said, rubbing his forehead.  
“Now that we have time, tell me how you know my name,” said Dirk sitting back on his bed  
*What’th he thaying?*  
*He wants to know how I know his name.*  
The troll snickered and said something Dirk assumed was an insult because John glared at him. “Sorry about him,” he said  
Dirk shrugged “I ain’t got any idea what he’s saying, so I don’t care.”  
“Oh yeah… Anyway,” said John shaking his head “I know your name because I made you.”  
Dirk stared at John.  
Did he… Really just say that?  
“What?”  
“Oh… Sorry, that was really vague and unclear,” said John backtracking “Okay, so there’s this Game, right? And I played it, and in the process it turned out that the only reason my and the people I was playing with was because of the Game. Like… the Game basically gave birth to us… And I helped… I guess… But anyway, this Game. You were supposed to play it, but you and the other three never played it so everything went wrong and now I’m here.”  
Dirk didn’t get any of that, but he pretended he did. This kid was shit at explaining things.  
“Uh huh.”  
*That wath the worthte explanation ever!* the troll said snickering  
“I had more time when I explained it to you!” fumed John, facing the troll. The troll stared blankly at him and asked something in his language. John rolled his eyes and switched back to the troll’s language  
*I said, I had more time when I was explaining it to you!* said John *and have you been practicing English? I don’t want to have to keep switching languages!*  
*Then why don’t you teach White Head here Beforanian?*  
*Because you already know some English,* said John *and Dirk doesn’t know any Beforanian!*  
Dirk heard his name mentioned again. He wished they would just speak in English.  
*So? Teach him*  
*Stop being difficult!* cried John  
The former Helmsman grinned a toothy grin at his Moirail *no.*  
“Bluuuuuhh! Fine,” said John angrily, suddenly speaking English “If you keep being stubborn I’ll talk in English until you learn some!”  
The troll made a face and began talking in irritable tones.  
“Nope, I’m done! I’m not translating!” said John, turning his back on the troll “So, Dirk… Uh… Hi.”  
Dirk nodded at John, saying nothing.  
The troll said something, but it sounded like he was whining.  
“Psiioniic, I swear to god, if you keep this up--”  
“You could just knock him out,” offered Dirk  
John looked between the two of them “I give up. *Psy, quit whining!* Dirk, sorry about this,” said John “I feel like you’ve spent this whole time being very patient, so thanks. You’re probably wondering what the heck is going on, seeing as I didn’t really give too clear of an answer, yes?”  
Dirk nodded, feeling that John had accurately depicted his thoughts.  
“Right, here comes story time, then.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this took forever. It's not even that long, sorry. I've been working on my other fic, The End.  
> Sorry! I'll try to work more on this one as well!

Dirk was unsure if he believed John. He said he was a god, and that he played a Game to either make a new universe or destroy everything currently living. He said he lost all of his friends and that he was ‘enlisted’ by The Condesce. Dirk believed that part at least.

“So because I never entered this Game of yours,” said Dirk “you lost?”  
“Yeah,” said John “You and the others were the Alpha team, you were supposed to actually succeed in making the new universe.”

“Couldn’t I just join now?” asked Dirk.  
John shook his head “it’s too late. We already tried defeating the boss, and we failed. The Game’s over.”

“That doesn’t mean this isn’t,” said Dirk gesturing to the world around him “you could try and take the Condesce down.”  
“What, you mean like a revolution?” asked John  
“Something like that,” said Dirk grinning, “I’ll even help.”

“Seriously?” asked John “we don’t have the man-power. Psiioniic is down, and I don’t know if he’ll be able to walk for a while. And what would we even do?”  
Dirk grinned. He had been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long, long time. The Condesce’s reign was going to end, and this was how “We’ll worry about that later, the question right now, is are you in?”

John looked hesitant. He looked over at Psiioniic and began talking in his language again.

*What do you think?*

*What do I think about what? I don’t underthand English, remember?*  
*Dirk wants to start a revolution against the Condesce since my Game is over.*

The troll grinned *Yeth. Let’th take that bitch down, I agree with thith Dirk Human. Thith ith a great idea!*  
John sighed, turning to Dirk “well, my Moirail wants to. I suppose I’m in. But there some people we have to save if this is to work.”

“Who?”

“The friends of mine who survived,” said John “Jade, Dave, and Rose. They’re still with the Condesce.”  
“You got it,” said Dirk, leaning back “are they pumped full of wind power as well?”

“No,” said John “Jade can control space, Dave is a timetraveler, and Rose is a Seer.”  
Dirk pretended he got all of that. He nodded “Alright. We need a plan of action. Do you know what ship they were on?”

“Uh… No. I don’t we were all put on different ships, and I was never let out, so I don’t know where they are,” said John  
“Then how do you know if they’re even still alive?” asked Dirk

“Because,” said John “They’re powerful and useful. Would you throw away a perfectly good battery?”  
“Well I wouldn’t,” said Dirk “not so sure about the Batterwitch.”

John groaned “you are not helping the moral,” he rubbed his eyes and yawned.  
“Maybe you should sleep,” said Dirk “we can make big important decisions when you wake up.”

John nodded, gratefully, and then went to sit next to the Psiioniic  
*What are you doing?* he asked as John sat beside him.

*Sleeping* muttered John, leaning against his arm.  
*What? With him around? He could kill us!* cried the Psiioniic

*Then keep watch,* John’s voice trailed off, and his head slumped down onto the troll’s shoulder. His eyelids fluttered shut and the familiar daze of sleep overtook him.


End file.
